Flood barriers are commonly used to hold back flood water. Flood barriers may be permanent, such as earthen dams or levees, or they may be removable, such as sand bags, or engineered barriers with components specially designed for holding back water. Removable flood barriers are sometimes used in areas subject to flooding at times or in response to expected flooding, but where a permanent barrier is not necessary or where a permanent barrier is not desirable because of reasons that include cost, impedances to traffic, aesthetics, etc. A known type of removable flood barrier is a single-wall flood barrier using posts and stop logs, which can be quickly and easily erected upon anchors that are pre-set in a floor, road, sidewalk, or other grade-level site. Such single-wall flood barriers are generally constructed to hold back flood water from one side, commonly called the “wet side”, and to transfer lateral loads created by the flood water to braces that extend downwardly and outwardly, away from the wet side. In this way, single-wall flood barriers hold back flood water to maintain a dry side opposite the wet side.
There exists a need for a removable flood barrier that can hold back flood water from either of two opposite sides. In other words, a barrier that can maintain either of two opposite sides as a dry side if the other side is inundated with flood water has clear advantages over known single-wall flood barriers that can only hold back water from one side. Such a two-sided barrier may be used in applications such as shopping centers where the owners of individual properties in a larger development have partnered with the overall flood protection plan for the development, but where each owner may wish to segment their own property such that they would be protected, even if flood protection barriers for other portions of the development were breached or not properly erected. By using barriers that can maintain either of two opposite sides as a dry side, each individual property owner may compartmentalize the flood protection of their property.